What To Do (or Not To Do) in a Recession
So-called experts typically don’t even know a recession is taking place until years after the fact.
Let me be the first to tell you in live time: things don’t look good.
In case you missed the massive financial meltdown, the multiple national banks failing and the general panic overtaking the country, maybe you noticed that groceries and electricity prices are creeping skyward. (Though, in classic nonsensical fashion, gas prices are back below $3/gallon – so there’s always that bright spot on the horizon.)
How, then, do you make the shrinking paychecks stretch a little further?
The first key, of course, would be to keep the paycheck and keep it big. Financial planners are full of helpful advice, too, like “make your job indispensable”. Though, they don’t point out that you probably should have been doing that all along.
If you’re not indispensable, then chances are you might be dispensed. Layoffs are on the rise. And while that’s true in fields like real estate and finance, it’s also true that people aren’t spending money on art, theater or fashion either. So now may not be the time to start your new career as a broke or, for that matter, as a self-employed designer either. On the other hand, I hear plumbers have it made.
If you are worried about your job situation, don’t sit around avoiding eye contact with your boss and waiting for the bad news. One, it’s not good for your health. And two, it isn’t going to solve the problem.
Start (covertly) looking into your job prospects. Make some calls and start the networking phones ringing – or rather send some emails and get on craigslist. Though don’t expect it to be easy, no matter how fabulous you are, particularly if you haven’t had any job skills training in a few years. New buzzwords include: web 2.0, social mobility, virality and medical billing. Technology skills are necessary in every field now, but nowhere more so than in design fields. No longer can you just sketch designs on the back of napkins. Computers are key to design, architecture and fashion. Don’t have your own website? Get one!
But maybe you have a steady job – better than no job – only problem now is: no bonuses or cost of living raises. What can you do to make a smaller amount of money last longer?
There is always the obvious: don’t spend any. If you don’t go out and you don’t do anything, then there’s a limited amount of money that can cost.
We are awash with stories about how these economic hard times are hurting even those who have previously been impervious. (Apparently stories about how the poor can’t pay bills aren’t quite “breaking news” enough.) The rich are faking priceless art, claiming illness instead of summering in the Cape and buying knockoffs of designer clothes.
When even the wealthy can’t afford their Carolina Herrera and turn to DIY, what hope do we mere mortals have?
Can’t afford fancy clothes or nice houses? Make your own! Move in with your friends! Now is not the time to have taste.
Even the singles scene is on the fritz says MSNBC. Someone must have realized all those drinks weren’t cheap and a singles scene without drinks is like a bar mitzvah without that awkward circle dance – no fun and no point.
Really, I feel bad for those young couples forced to have date night at home with a box of Charles Shaw. Trying to balance the checkbook, cut the fat? Break up! The obvious caveat being for shared, fabulous, rent-controlled apartments in Manhattan or San Francisco.
If that’s not enough, advisors and random people on the internet are full of tips to save money, which all basically amount to: don’t do anything and do everything yourself.
Don’t turn on lights. Or heat. Or appliances. [It may take some practice dressing in the dark.] Grow your own food, because, man, farmers don’t have any problems. Do your own home repairs, make your own clothes, and design your own apartment. And when you break the refrigerator/dryer/stove/pipes, that’s sure to be cheap and easy to replace. In fact, why don’t you just move to a smaller house? Don’t be picky! A number of people are moving to smaller houses, some even so small they could be called trailers (especially when they start towing them on the backs of cars).
The zeal to cut costs (and corners) has led some money-saving gurus to the downright unsanitary: reuse ziplock bags to pack all your food in, waiting to flush the toilet until it’s used 2-3 times, only using half a dishwasher tablet at a time, leaving your clothes outside to let the rain wash them. OK, I made the last one up.
But, it’s easy to get caught up in “saving” money and go a little overboard particularly with the people on cable news screaming at you all the time about “crises” and “depression”. When in fact (as with everything) moderation is really the key. Go out to dinner less, split an entrée when you do go out (most meals are too many calories anyway, but that’s moderation of a different kind), don’t buy the clothes or shoes you don’t need. Now is not the time to be particular. Practice a little self-control. But you already knew that.
According to Consumer Reports, women are move likely to cut back on their spending right now. So, you could always just become a woman that might solve the problem.
Of course, now’s not really the best time for the country to all be cutting back. As individuals, we typically spend when we should be saving (like, you know, in the bubble leading up to now) and save when we should be spending. If you really want to help the national economy, you’ll get out there and live just a little bit beyond your means, like a true American.
>Written by d/visible contributor Kelly Dunleavy.
